DOESKIN HOMEMADE BINDING Two Journeys to Jerusalem Containing, First A Strange and True Account

Homemade doe-skin binding on this chapbook publication by the English printer and bookseller variously known as Nathaniel Crouch, Robert or Richad Burton.

The doe-skin binding which seems likely to be contemporary with the book has been wrapped tightly around the boards and sewn down the spine with the result that that the book opens comfortably to about 140 degrees but not beyond. The binding has been repaired at some stage with early nineteenth century rag-paper endpapers inserted, the final fly leaf town with some loss. The book collates complete as per ESTC with 150 pages - actually 160 and the preliminary plate A1. The paper is soft and browned, the title page soiled and rubbing to foreedge with some fraying.

Unschooled but with a gift for writing Nathaniel Crouch published prolifically under several pseudonyms. This volume offered an account of an exotic journey to Jerusalem but much more substantial content about the history of the ‘Jewish Nation’, their association with American Indians as one of the ten lost tribes of Israel, the ‘Great Council... in the Plains of Hungaria’ and the ‘final Extirpation and Destruction of the Jews in Persia, in 1666’ - standard anti-Semitic fare.